1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a wearable communication device such as a wearable telephone. Further, the present invention relates to a wearable communication device which can be used in a noisy outdoor environment and can be used without annoying surrounding people.
Furthermore, the present invention relates to a wearable command input device, more particularly, to a full-time wearable command input device in which a user can input a command by minute movements of a human body while preventing any improper input caused by bending or twisting the user's wrist from being input as a command.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional mobile telephone such as a cellular phone is generally used by being grasped with a hand. However, because a user needs to take the phone out from a pocket or a bag when the user needs to use it, there are disadvantages that the user can not use the phone immediately when he wants to do so and can not respond to a call immediately. Therefore, as a mobile telephone which can be used immediately, a wearable telephone which is used by being worn on a human body is becoming a focus of attention.
As a wearable telephone which is used by wearing on a human body, each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,381,387 and 5,499,292 discloses a wrist telephone, which includes a speaker mounted in an arc-shaped boom, with which a user speaks by putting the speaker on the center of the user's palm and covering the ear by the hand.
As another wrist-wearing-type wearable telephone, there is a wristwatch-type PHS telephone which is used in a manner similar to looking at a wristwatch. This type of telephone can be used immediately and the user can immediately respond to a call because there is no need to take out it from a pocket or a bag. However, because a microphone and a speaker of the telephone are located at the wrist, there are disadvantages that, for example, a received voice is sometimes hard-to-hear and a user's utterance sometimes is not transmitted to the party on the other end.
Further, as for a conventional mobile telephone such as a conventional cellular phone, the user's utterance tends to be loud when using the telephone, and the other party's speaking voice leaks from the receiver. Further, the alert of the phone is very loud. Therefore, a disadvantage that such a telephone sometimes annoys surrounding people is pointed out.
As for other types of wearable telephones such as the above-mentioned wristwatch type and a conventional ear-attaching type, because the using styles of those types are different from the style when using a conventional handset, there is a problem that the style seems to be strange and may be problematic. Also, as those telephones become small, the operating buttons become quite small. As a result, the user can not operate those telephones easily.
The operation style of the above-mentioned wrist telephones which are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,387 and No. 5,499,292 is similar to that of a conventional handset. Therefore, the operation style does not seem to be strange to the surrounding people. However, as mentioned above, because the user's utterance tends to be loud when using the phone and the other party's speaking voice leaks from the receiver, there is also the disadvantage of annoying surrounding people in a crowded place. Also, the difficulty of the operation due to the small size is still a problem.
Furthermore, in a recent situation in which a small PDA device is becoming widely used, the above-mentioned operability problem needs to be solved so that the PDA may become even smaller so as to be wearable on an arm or a hand.